Friday, August 8, 2014

List Of 6 Lesser Known Branches Of Forensic Science

Forensics have
certainly come a long way. It all began as merely identifying fingerprints
visible to the naked eye (back in ole BC), but has evolved into an essential
crime-fighting giant with tens of subdivisions and even entire schools dedicated
to those pursuing a job in forensic science. Forensic science can do fancy science
tricks akin to those previously only seen in sci-fi movies. The future is now!
Crimes can be solved just by examining insects or plant life at the scene,
microscopic marks on a bullet can be examined to discover details about a
murder, and even astronomy can be used to decipher previously unknown details
about classic works of art. Here are six of the weirdest branches of forensic
science that will blow your mind and your chances of committing the perfect
crime.

6. Forensic Botany

A forensic botanist
knows that there is such thing as a gruesome plant. Forensic science developed
forensic botany to cleverly research the nature of a crime using the plants
found on or around the victim’s body. If the body lies in the park but
contains plant matter only found across town by the river, forensic botanists
can conclude that the body has been moved. According to Contact Traces
(Marriner, 1991), a criminal always takes or leaves something from the scene of
the crime and they aren’t the only ones with fingerprints. Plants
have “fingerprints” as well, and trace evidence of those
fingerprints can sometimes link a criminal to the victim. The first instance of
forensic botany to be used in trial was during the infamous Lindbergh trial,
when the discovery of a piece of wood in the criminal’s attic was examined.
The wood grain exactly matched that of a ladder at the scene of the crime.
Forensic science even utilized botany in the recent Casey Anthony; forensic botanist
Jane Bock testified that Caylee Anthony’s, grown through with roots and leaves,
could have been sitting in the woods for as little as two weeks - significantly less
than prosecutors had believed. Unfortunately, Casey Anthony went free despite
obviously having a hand in her child's death. Forensic science can't solve everything.

5. Forensic
Entomology

Wasps, ants and
bees, oh my! Forensic entomology is the study of insects and bugs in criminal
cases. Although typically used to study death, it can also be used to detect
drugs or decipher the exact time wounds were sustained. One of the most common
cases in entomology (as frequently seen on forensic science show Forensic
Files) is examining maggots on a body and determining the time of death based on
those maggots, scientists know how long it takes for a maggot to complete each life
stage, so the current state of the maggots is studied. Blow flies, cheese
flies, house flies, and the grossly named flesh flies all behave and reproduce
differently from one another. The same goes for the many species of beetles,
moths, mites, bees, and ants. That's a lot of potential evidence, especially
since bugs and insects are virtually everywhere. Forensic scientists had to
find ways of gathering additional research on forensic entomology without
losing time by only studying current criminal cases. As a solution, pig
carcasses were studied in various environments because of their similarities to
the human body. Forensic entomology is even popular in films, such as in the
moth pupa autopsy scene from Silence of the Lambs. Going back to the Casey
Anthony trial, an entomologist was called in to testify about the presence of "late colonizers" in Anthony's trunk, or insects
which are only present in a decomposing body after it's been dead three to
four days.

4. Forensic
Meteorology

This one sounds way
cooler than it actually is. Forensic science's branch of meteorology utilizes witness
accounts, weather reports, and satellite images to determine the weather
conditions at the time/scene of a crime. The most frequent usages for forensic
meteorology are in murder or insurance fraud investigations.

3. Forensic
Geophysics

Fred West was a
cruel British serial killer who, along with the help of his equally demented
wife, murdered as many as 13 young girls. The recovery of multiple bodies
buried on his property was sparked after he filmed himself raping two of his
own daughters, and the girls told people at school who consequently told the
police. Once West began confessing, a technique called forensic geophysics was
utilized to uncover the bodies and prosecute West for as many crimes as
possible. The forensic geophysics branch of forensic science uses Ground
Penetrating Radar (GPR) to send electromagnetic waves into the ground, which
bounce back with a length dependent upon what objects are beneath the ground's surface. Initially
invented as a mine detector, GPR was a huge advance in the 90s, but definitely
had its flaws. Looking for a small object (such as a shoebox) was nearly
impossible, as GPR works better when detecting bulkier objects.

2. Forensic
Astronomy

Another relatively
mild field of forensic science is forensic astronomy, which studies celestial
objects to decipher past celestial constellations. In turn, these
constellations can be compared to the past to figure out details about
historical events or classic works of art. Forensic astronomy is not often used
in trial, but one example of its usefulness in solving crimes can be in
photography. Two pictures taken at the same event of the same person can be
studied by looking at the shadows within the pictures. The difference between
the shadows and the time of day can tell forensic astronomers much about the
photograph.

1. Forensic
Limnology

Similar to forensic
botany and entomology, the forensic science of limnology utilizes the
environment around a crime scene to discover clues. Specifically, limnology
studies freshwater sources around the crime scene, and is particularly useful
in drowning cases. A drowning victim may decompose significantly in only a
short period of time if he or she is immersed in water after death, which can
significantly decrease the amount of evidence found in or on the victim's body. Limnology
studies diatoms, or algae, to discover whether the person died from drowning or
not. A drowning victim will retain diatoms within the lungs and all throughout
other internal organs as well, having inhaled water before death. Limnology can
also help locate where and when the person was killed, both using the
freshwater flora inside the body and studying the development of that flora.